Cruising – Cairns to The Tip of Cape York (Great Barrier Reef)

We had a perfect sail from Cairns to Low Isles. Perfect! However, by the time we arrived, the sun was getting ready to set so we missed out on snorkelling it. With a deadline to arrive in Darwin, we decided to skip Port Douglas, because we have spent plenty of time there before, and keep on pushing north.

Snorkelling Undine Cay

The next morning we were off again. We stopped at Undine Cay, which is a favourite of ours, and went snorkelling. We decided to stay the night. Once the tide came in it got a bit rolly, so the next night, after another perfect sail, we were glad to find a sheltered spot behind Hope Islands.

Little shark at Undine Cay

We caught a couple of mackerel just out from Undine Cay. We cut one fish into fillets and the other into cutlets and topped up our freezer. We had a delicious meal of cajun mackerel fillets with a pineapple, tomato, and corn salad. Yummo.

Spotted mackerel

Spanish Mackerel

From Hope Island we sailed on and spent a night anchored off the mainland at Cape Bedford. We had an afternoon of relaxation before moving on the next day to Lizard Island. Fantastic sail in 25 knots and we arrived at lunch time. After a yummy lunch of teriyaki marlin sushi (check it out on ‘cooking our catch’!) we went for a snorkel in the bay. Fantastic! Saw clown fish, titan trigger fish (Dwayne has a strong bond with these fish lol), huge bat fish, trevally, parrot fish, coral trout….. too many to name them all.

Anemone fish aka clownfish

Sea anemone

Over the next few days at Lizard Island our many forays into the water revealed the whole star-studded cast of “Finding Nemo’. Clown fish, sharks, turtles and so many huge fish!

Pink Clownfish

While at Lizard went for a walk to Blue Lagoon Beach and also to the top of Cook’s Look; beautiful beaches and views.

One of the small beaches on Lizard Island. We have re-named it “Skinny-dip Beach”.

Dwayne and I added our rocks to the carn at Cook’s Look.

Saw these beautiful birds, which I’m pretty sure are the male and female ‘yellow-bellied sunbird’.

Male yellow-bellied sunbird

Female yellow-bellied sunbird

There were around 12 other boats in the bay and we had happy hour on the beach each afternoon. We met the crew of ‘Miss Polly’ a catamaran that was also heading north. Polly and Gerry are great people and a lot of fun so we sailed in company with them to the top of Australia.

Lizard Island

From Lizard we went to the Howick Group where we stayed a couple of days. The days were spent snorkelling the beautiful reef, catching crayfish and sitting around the fire on the beach eating crayfish and mackerel.

Dwayne snorkelling for crayfish

Cooking crayfish on the beach, with a beautiful sunset to finish… paradise!

BBQ crayfish

We then spent a night at Flinder’s Island before moving onto to Morris Island where we spent another couple of nights. It was a beautiful place where we once again enjoy cooking on the fire. The days on Morris Island were spent fishing, getting coconuts, walking and playing bocce with Polly and Gerry. It was windy so Dwayne and I built a lean-to out of some timber and coconut fronds to keep the sand out of our food when cooking a BBQ. We also took the time to do our chores… make water, do washing, charge the batteries etc.

Dwayne after getting coconuts from the palms in the background.

Eating a fish Dwayne cooked on the coals.

Our little lean-to. Dwayne cooking mackerel & potato patties.

I’ll drink to that! Polly and I enjoying a beverage.

The wind has been a perfect east- southeast 20-25knots since we left Cairns, so once again leaving Morris Island we had another great sail. We stopped for the night at the Lockhart River and Dwayne and Polly put in the crab pot. Caught one crab and a little shark.

A crocodile chomped into Polly’s float. The white container Dwayne is holding had big teeth marks all over it!

We stayed a couple of nights at Forbes Island. This was our last chance for a snorkel…. although there was a crocodile sign. The snorkelling wasn’t the best, so for the two days we were there we walked the hills and beaches and collected coconuts and heaps of oysters. We enjoyed some of oysters on the fire and pickled the rest.

View of the beach. We are anchored on the right hand side of the photo.

Fishing from the beach.

Weaving a coconut frond to wrap the fish in to cook on the fire.

Dwayne tried hoisting himself up a coconut palm to get coconuts. He soon decided that with Gerry being 30kg lighter it would be better to send Gerry up the tree.

Cooking oysters on the coals

Next stop bird Island where I could see some ‘tracks’ on the beach. Looking through the binoculars Dwayne said they were turtle tracks. Dwayne and Polly went looking for mud crabs. Walking through the mangroves and crossing lagoons, they ended up knee deep in mud with one mud crab and a heap of oysters. When I got to the island I checked out the ‘tracks’….. crocodile tracks, not turtle!

Croc tracks

We enjoyed oysters on the fire and went back to the boats before dark, in case the croc decided to return to the beach. In the morning we saw the crocodile lying on the beach.

The croc on the beach at Bird Island

We spent a night at Escape River before sailing through Albany Passage and on to the Tip of Cape York. A short walk took us to the very tip of Australia for the requisite photos and some lovely views of the bay.

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About Kelly Turpin

Kelly has a Bachelor of Ecotourism and a passion for the natural world. Before her life as a full time traveller, Kelly was a personal trainer and has also been a snorkel instructor and guide on the Great Barrier Reef. Kelly has written, and published, environmental and educational children's activity books and is now dabbling at writing a cook book. Kelly raised two sons and helped raise a stepson before she and hubby, ran away to travel around Australia - towing a fishing boat and living in a tent. Two years later Kelly and Dwayne settled back in Adelaide and opened their own home improvements business. They sold up almost everything and sailed out of Adelaide in May of 2014.

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